Gardening Practices - Agriculture CBC Grade 6 Notes

• Organic Gardening Of Legumes.
  • Meaning Of Organic Gardening.
• Innovative Ornamental Gardening
  • Growing Media For Ornamental Crops
  • Preparing Compost Tea
• Moisture Bed Gardening
  • How to Prepare a Raised Moisture Bed

Organic Gardening Of Legumes.

Legumes include:

• Pigeon peas.
  
• Common beans
  
• Dolichos lablab beans
• Green grams
  
• Groundnuts
  
• cowpeas
  
• The roots of legumes have small swellings called root nodules where some very tiny living things called nitrogen fixing bacteria live.
• These bacteria take up nitrogen from the atmosphere and convert it into
• The nutrients are the absorbed by the legume crops to make proteins.

Meaning Of Organic Gardening.

• Organic gardening refers to a system of growing crops using natural farming techniques and materials instead of artificial chemicals.
• In organic gardening, compost, compost manure and animal manures are used instead of artificial fertilizers
• The organic manures feed the soil which in turn feeds the crops with nutrients leading to strong and healthy crops.
• Healthy crops are able to tolerate the effects of drought, pests and diseases which are the main causes of low yields.
• Organic manure enables the soil to hold enough moisture for crop growth.
• In organic gardening, artificial chemicals such as pesticides are not used.
• Chemicals also cause harm to animals including beneficial insects that feed on pests or those that pollinate our crops.

Establishing a legume crop.

• Proper seedbed preparation helps to remove weeds and loosen the soil for easy sowing of seeds.
• Organic manures should be incorporated into the soil during seedbed preparation.
• Seeds for planting should be healthy, whole and dry.
• The selected seed should also be suited to the climate and soil of a given place.
• Green grams, cow peas and pigeon grow well in semi-arid areas because they are drought resistant.
• Garden peas require cool and moist areas.
• To ensure seeds germinate with ease, it is important to show seeds at proper planting depth. I.e. between 2.5 cm to 10cm.
• Two to three seeds can be planted per hole using correct spacing.
• Proper spacing ensures that the crops receive adequate nutrients, water, sunlight and air for proper growth.

Caring for growing legume crops

1. Irrigation if there is no rainfall
2. Waterlogged seedbed should be avoided
3. Application of water directly on the leaves should be avoided.
4. Mulching should be done to retain moisture
5. Gapping to replace the seedlings which fail to germinate.
6. Thinning to remove excess seedlings.
7. Correct number of plants per hole to reduce competition for nutrients, water and light
8. Pests should be regularly controlled using the appropriate methods. i.e. by:
   
   • Hand picking
   • spraying
9. Infected crops by diseases should be uprooted and then destroyed by burning.
10. Weeding during raining season should be avoided to prevent rapid spread of diseases
11. Climbing legume crops should be supported to grow upright. .

Right stage of harvesting.

• Some legumes are harvested while green and eaten as vegetable such as beans
• and Some are left to dry and harvested when they have lost their green colour. peas
• Mature legume pods turn brown and dry
• To determine when groundnuts are mature a few plants are lifted to observe the pods before harvesting all the groundnuts
• Harvesting should be done during dry weather conditions.

Innovative Ornamental Gardening

• Ornamental gardening refers to cultivation of planting with the aim of enhancing beauty of a place or landscape.
• Some crops can also be grown in a pattern that can make our surroundings beautiful
• Ornamental cropping can be done in . learning institution, hospitals, hotels, public parks, homes and sports fields
• Innovative ornamental patterns can also be made by using plants in containers or on the ground.
• The plants used could be flowers, trees, shrubs or food crops such as sugarcane, bananas, fruit crops or vegetables.
• When food crops are used for ornamental gardening, they bring beauty and also contribute to food security.

Growing Media For Ornamental Crops

• Ornamental plants can be established in two ways:
  
  • Using soil as a base to support the roots of ornamental plants.
  • Using soilless media as a base to support the roots of the ornamental
• The surface on which plants grow is called plants growing medium.
• Soil is a natural growing medium for plants
• Soilless medium can also be used to establish ornamental crops
• The nutrients can be supplied from liquid manure (called compost tea) when soilless medium is used.
  Note: Compost tea is organic compost manure mixed with water.

Some of the medium for growing ornamental crops include:

• Peat moss
• Coco peat
• Sand
• Gravel
  

Establishing ornamental plants in soilless media.

• Identify a soilless media to use in a container.
• Measure the quantity of the soilless medium that can fill about three quarter of each available container
• Put the identified soilless medium in a container or containers.
• Add some water to moisten the soilless medium.
• Plant an ornamental plant or crop of your choice in the container garden(s)
• Select a suitable site and place your container garden in a pattern that suites your preference
• Apply liquid manure or compost tea around the base of ornamental plants from time to supply nutrients.

Preparing Compost Tea

Tools

• Two 20 litres buckets
• Clean fresh water
• Organic manure
• Stick for stirring
• strainer

Steps

• Scoop organic manure in an empty 20 litre bucket up to a third of the bucket
• Add clean fresh water(not chlorinated, rain water the best) to fill the bucket and stir with a stick
• Set aside the mixture to brew for 12 to 36 hours away from direct sunlight.
• Strain the compost using a clean piece of cloth return the leftover to a compost bin or use in the plant as mulch.
• Dilute the mixture in the ratio of 1:3 only if it is very dark in colour

Note:

• The volume of water should be twice that of liquid manure
• Do not use unfinished compost in your compost tea. Unfinished tea may contain living things that could damage plants
• Use the compost tea once a week to avoid scorching of plants.

Importance of innovative ornamental cropping.

1. Beautify the environment
2. Source of food
3. Supply fresh air for human beings and other animals.
4. Can be used as beautiful photograph background when taking photograph.
5. Some act as windbreakers hence less destruction of built environment.
6. Require less space.

Moisture Bed Gardening

How To Prepare A Raised Moisture Bed

Tools and Materials.

• Topsoil
• Compost manure or farmyard manure
• Dry grass
• Kitchen wastes
• Gravel
• Fork jembe
• Wooden pegs
• Ten 90cm long fitos
• A panga
• Claw harmer
• A thick polythene

Steps.

• Select a suitable site for your garden and clear any vegetation on it.
• Measure the land on the ground so that it is 1m wide and desired length.
• Fix 90cm long wooden stakes about 30cm below the ground along the edges of the marked areas.
• Inside the framework created by the stakes, lay thick polythene sheet on the ground.
• Lay a 30cm layer of hard-core or gravel carefully at the bottom
• Place a 10cm layer of dry grass or kitchen waste such as fruit and vegetable peels on top of the gravel
• Add a 20cm layer of topsoil mixed with compost manure
• Your raised moisture bed is now ready for crop establishment.

Note: You can obtain the topsoil from another place or dig out the topsoil from the same site before laying the polythene sheet.

Taking care of the crop on moisture bed.

• There is constant production of crops throughout the year.
• Soil is full of organic manure
• Many crops can be planted on a small area leading to high yields
• Some crops that don’t do well in a normal environment can be established here
• There is high water retention.